people who do design, what makes you start in the first place?

[sublime]

*the context in which design lies here is including, but not limited to, graphic design, ui/ux design, brand identity, product design, web design etc

 

whether you're just doing it for fun, actually studying for a degree or for a living, what makes you start doing design in the first place? is there any particular thing that's meaningful, or maybe you're just doing it just to kill time? and if you're pursuing a serious path on it, why?

 

for me i started back when i was in a kpop forum around 2008, making fancy icons and sigs were huge back in the day and i decided it was fun and tried my hands on it. i started using specifically photoshop where i'd recolor icons and add other stuff in it. i used to do art previously and i somehow ditched it for design which i regret now lol, totally should've improved both

[LaLisaMakesUSingLaaa]

starts from inspiration 

[M O L A]

it was an easier alternative to any STEM degrees. I'm pursuing a degree on it but I'm not really serious about it. 

[rich witch]

I first started messing around with photoshop around 2004/2005, at first it was just a slight curiousity, I wanted to learn how to code HTML websites and for that I needed the design aspect as well (I was about 12 at the time). As a kid who's always loved art I obviously found out that I liked the design aspect more than the coding aspect of creating a website, neglected HTML and started to play with photoshop for hours making all sorts of things.

 

Nowadays I use photoshop to make my digital art as well as doing graphics for different purposes as a hobby, not a profession. 

[solis]

I was a member of a forum in 2007 and wanted to learn how to make my own icons and signatures since I couldn't find any existing ones that suited my tastes. I started out using a program called Paint Shop Pro which is similar to Photoshop, but it's like a watered-down version (not all of the same features were there, but enough that I had the tools I wanted to use). Eventually I got Photoshop and the transition was pretty smooth due to the similar interfaces.

 

I'd like to study it and maybe work in a design field professionally some day, but I'm not great at self-study and I can't find any suitable schools near me, so it's just a hobby for now.

[taenguri]

Dad taught me how to use MS PowerPoint as a kid (like 6 or something) and I started design from there. I eventually moved onto PS since it was installed on the school laptops, and through that I started making graphics at first for my own interest, and then after joining OH I starting doing it for that. Currently I use GIMP, and I mainly do it for fun since I enjoy creating.

[eunheart]

i remember i am very much into graphics since a kid. i imitated lots of manga and chibis, interpreted into my own drawing for fun game on papers and comic strip. on career wise, i was interested in pursuing for architectural or designing in development (landscape, interior, urban planning). but as i'm growing, plan drifted away and i get detached from routine drawings and stuff.

 

in college, i met kpop, and pretty media field. this is where i kinda start anew. i used to do graphics for event productions for a while but now graphics are pretty much hobby to me as i'm trying to dive into different career of the same field. and OH made me want to keep close to digital graphics for reasons so i'm lucky i didn't stop again this time.

[sakurahanabira]

I haven't touched Photoshop since I was in high school (too poor to afford Photoshop and any Adobe programs so I could only use the program on my high school library computers), but Neopets got me into design in the first place when I was 13 lol. The hours I spent designing backgrounds for my own Neopet's profile...I was also active on deviantArt from 2004-2008. I'd like to pick up graphic design again, though.